Sounds slightly surprising, but the exterior of the ISS is not a sterile environment. There are thousands of ways terrestrial bacteria could have ended up there. I guess the interesting thing is that the bacteria seem to be able to survive the extreme environment. But that's hardly a new discovery about bacteria.
Maybe it's a matter of time? I mean, there's quite a bit of UV from the Sun baking that surface every day. Perhaps those bacteria would eventually die if they are not being replenished from somewhere.
Couldn't this simply be from an astronaut sneezing on a glove prior to a spacewalk, then grabbing a handrail? We already know about water bears that can survive in space, so why not bacteria.
Pretty much - even opening the air lock will do it.
> The former cosmonaut, who spent nearly a year in orbit back in the 1980s, said that outer surface of ISS is “heavily contaminated” by the waste products from engines of the arriving spacecraft, atmospheric discharges from the station during spacewalks by the crew and other factors.
There is also evidence that bacteria get carried up on air currents and the ISS orbits low enough that it can intercept this stuff. (note that while this is widely reported, there doesn't seem to be anything actually published, and the air current theory is, well, a theory).
So... You found bacteria on your swab while orbiting the largest and only known source of bacteria in the universe and you think it might not be from that largest and only known source of bacteria? Bah!
If the alien organism originally evolved independently of life on Earth, then analyzing its genetic material - its equivalent of DNA - would tell us a lot.
We haven't yet found any organisms on Earth that have evolved independently, so an organism found in space that has a different genetic structure from Earth life would be a good bet for being alien in origin.
An alternative, albeit unlikely, possibility is that Earth life was originally seeded from somewhere else - panspermia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia.
In that case, Earth life and (some) alien life would have a common origin, and we'd have to examine the differences in its DNA to find out more about its history.
Even in that case, it ought to be possible to determine that the organism had branched off from Earth life long enough ago to make it a candidate for alien life.
There are a handful of scientists attempting to collect life forms from very high altitudes using balloons. In one instance [1] they discovered UV resistant bacteria. Could it be remotely possible that high altitude species have managed to live on the ISS?
Any type of leak can contribute to this bacteria. Maybe there is some benign bacteria that was stuck on the outside from earth that will thrive in such environment
Earlier this year, Russian scientists announced that the "Test" experiments had found a range of different organisms that had been brought up from Earth and seemed to be surviving by clinging onto the ISS's hull.
The above quote from the article suggests to me that there is a good chance that some of the bacteria remained on the hull long after the experiments performed by the Russians earlier that year.
If bacteria have survived on the surface of the ISS, I wonder what we have introduced to the Moon and Mars (and maybe Venus!) on landers. Perhaps they'll be covered in a biome soon.
The suggestion that the bacteria is extraterrestrial in origin is absolutely ridiculous. Much, much, much more research is necessary before such a claim can be made. The speculation on Shkaplerov's part is hugely unprofessional.
Shkaplerov appears to be a very accomplished pilot - see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Shkaplerov. It's not clear why anyone would pay attention to his claims about exobiology. The journalism is unprofessional, too, although that's not news.
I can't help but keep wondering if "life originated on Earth" might not be the last geocentrism.
It's only speculation at this point but it's one I've harbored for many years. Part of this is because of how common we've found organic materials to be in the universe, and part of it comes from how poorly other geocentric ideas have fared.
There are plausible theories about how life arose on Earth.
If you want to assume it came from somewhere else, you either have to invoke some kind of magic, or assume it happened somewhat along the lines that it would have done on Earth, then arrived somehow. It just kicks the can down the road without solving anything, IMO.
(However, if it somehow turns out to be alien, that seems to be to imply that interstellar space must be swarming with bacteria, yes? For the ISS to have encountered some already?)
Sure, but we aren't holding to this form of biological geocentrism for no reason. We've never seen any definite proof of life on any other planets. Given that science is an evidence-based methodology, it makes sense that we would assume Earth-based life is the only model of life until proven otherwise.
This is CLEARLY clickbait. Why is this on the front page of HN? It is currently ranked #7!!
Article tldr: There's bacteria on the outside of the ISS. We've found some before and this isn't new. BUT THIS TIME IT MIGHT BE ALIEN!!! Why? Well... because it COULD be.
Culture it, fill a probe full of canisters of the bacteria, and fire them directly at Europa. Spreading life should be of more importance than preserving the absurd idea of "pristine" environments for the selfish reasons of future scientists not wanting to do 4 minutes extra work determining whether the thing they observe occurred before or after human action changed things (as if such a distinction actually matters in the slightest).
Why Europa? Why would you want to introduce a foreign bacteria that could potentially wipe out any possible life there? Why is spreading life important?
[+] [-] yosito|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Florin_Andrei|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] QAPereo|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] agumonkey|8 years ago|reply
solar rays for sure. Enough gazeous particules ? but that's it isn't it ?
[+] [-] astrodust|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] CodeTheInternet|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] joshvm|8 years ago|reply
> The former cosmonaut, who spent nearly a year in orbit back in the 1980s, said that outer surface of ISS is “heavily contaminated” by the waste products from engines of the arriving spacecraft, atmospheric discharges from the station during spacewalks by the crew and other factors.
https://www.rt.com/news/181472-iss-marine-plankton-space/
There is also evidence that bacteria get carried up on air currents and the ISS orbits low enough that it can intercept this stuff. (note that while this is widely reported, there doesn't seem to be anything actually published, and the air current theory is, well, a theory).
There are several papers on interior contamination though, e.g http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0923250805...
[+] [-] ReedJessen|8 years ago|reply
click bait...
[+] [-] marze|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hgdsraj|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] antonvs|8 years ago|reply
We haven't yet found any organisms on Earth that have evolved independently, so an organism found in space that has a different genetic structure from Earth life would be a good bet for being alien in origin.
An alternative, albeit unlikely, possibility is that Earth life was originally seeded from somewhere else - panspermia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia.
In that case, Earth life and (some) alien life would have a common origin, and we'd have to examine the differences in its DNA to find out more about its history.
Even in that case, it ought to be possible to determine that the organism had branched off from Earth life long enough ago to make it a candidate for alien life.
[+] [-] sgt101|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] greggarious|8 years ago|reply
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
[+] [-] johnhenry|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Sir_Cmpwn|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JoeDaDude|8 years ago|reply
[1] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090318094642.h...
[+] [-] m3kw9|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dustfinger|8 years ago|reply
The above quote from the article suggests to me that there is a good chance that some of the bacteria remained on the hull long after the experiments performed by the Russians earlier that year.
[+] [-] sempron64|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] guilamu|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] GrumpyNl|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Sir_Cmpwn|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] antonvs|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] douglaswlance|8 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] alexanderstears|8 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] api|8 years ago|reply
It's only speculation at this point but it's one I've harbored for many years. Part of this is because of how common we've found organic materials to be in the universe, and part of it comes from how poorly other geocentric ideas have fared.
[+] [-] reubenswartz|8 years ago|reply
If you want to assume it came from somewhere else, you either have to invoke some kind of magic, or assume it happened somewhat along the lines that it would have done on Earth, then arrived somehow. It just kicks the can down the road without solving anything, IMO.
[+] [-] lancebeet|8 years ago|reply
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia
[+] [-] carapace|8 years ago|reply
Cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tersicoccus_phoenicis "It has only been found in two spacecraft assembly clean room facilities..."
Maybe it's not T. phoenicis but it's not ET.
(However, if it somehow turns out to be alien, that seems to be to imply that interstellar space must be swarming with bacteria, yes? For the ISS to have encountered some already?)
[+] [-] TheAdamAndChe|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] godelski|8 years ago|reply
Article tldr: There's bacteria on the outside of the ISS. We've found some before and this isn't new. BUT THIS TIME IT MIGHT BE ALIEN!!! Why? Well... because it COULD be.
[+] [-] otakucode|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cup-of-tea|8 years ago|reply